Science Outreach for Chemistry Week

The Biology-Chemistry Club had an evening of outreach at River Park Public Library a few weeks ago during "Chemistry Week".  IU South Bend students entertained and educated both kids and parents with eye-catching demonstrations and activities. A bit more colorful than in our labs!  

Visitors had a wonderful time and so did our students who were very impressed with the turnout.  Thanks to Biology-Chemistry Club for devoting their time and experience to make this event such a success.

Medical School Admission / Research Opportunities

The Biology-Chemistry Club has arranged two events.  The first is a presentation about medical school admissions by Professor Robert Stahelin of the IU School of Medicine located on the Notre Dame campus. Anyone interested in medical school is encouraged to attend.  

Even if you will not be applying this year, it would be good to learn what is involved - and possibly what actions could increase your chances for acceptance.  His talk is on Tuesday, Nov 15, in NS 152 from 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM.

The second event is a talk about undergraduate research opportunities at Notre Dame given by Professor Michelle Whaley.  She is campus's director of the NSF funded summer undergraduate research program.     Some research experience looks very nice on a student's application to graduate school.  It could also help you decide if you are interested in a career or further study involving research.  Her talk is on Friday, Nov 18, in NS 152 from 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM.

Mole Day Party

To many chemists, the number that is approximately 6.02x10^23 may be more recognizable as Avogadro's number used in the definition of the SI unit mole than the small mammal pictured here. This number has been translated to the date 10/23 and time 6:02 to mark a celebration of chemistry.  

The Biology and Chemistry Club has reserved SAC 225 from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM for food, fun, and games on that notable Sunday this month.   All students and faculty are invited to join the celebration.

Students present research at undergraduate conference

Students Abdullah Almayouf and Tyler Krause were two of several chemistry and biochemistry majors who tackled research projects this past summer. This pair teamed up with mathematics major Doan Le for a computational study of the Schrodinger equation under the guidance of Professor Marmorino.

The group introduced a parameter (for optimization) into the Temple formula used to calculate lower bounds to ground-state energies of atomic and molecular systems. Last Friday, Abdullah and Tyler presented this research at the Midwestern Symposium on Undergraduate Research in Chemistry held at Michigan State University.  Just a week earlier they were notified that their work had been accepted for publication in the Journal of Mathematical Chemistry.  Congratulations Abdullah, Tyler, and Doan!

Alumnus Shahir Rizk engineers protein nanoswitches

After graduating from IU South Bend with a biology major and chemistry minor, Shahir Rizk earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 2006 from the Duke University School of Medicine.  Rizk now works as a postdoctoral fellow for Professor Anthony Kossiakoff at the University of Chicago in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. 

As part of our intermittent Chemistry Right Now seminar series, Rizk will discuss how he and his colleagues attempt to engineer conformational changes that allow a protein to serve as a molecular on-off switch.   His talk Engineering Nanoswitches to Control Protein Structure and Function will be presented in Northside Hall 113 at 4:00 P.M. on Monday, October 10.

A Scientific Look at Marijuana

Chemistry professor Joe Vinson from the University of Scranton will discuss the history, chemical nature, and bodily effects of this widely abused drug today at 4:00 PM in room 225 of the Student Activities Center. 

While marijuana may not be your cup of tea some patients treasure it as much as a pot of gold for its proclaimed medical powers; its beneficial aspects will be discussed in this talk.  The structure shown is for  the active ingredient of the drug: tetrahydrocannabinol.  This talk, free and open to the public, is jointly sponsored by the American Chemical Society and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

Seminar on Integrated Pest Management

Today the N390 Environmental Chemistry class learned from guest speaker Dr. Bill Shane how disciplines other than chemistry can be involved in controlling pests.  Dr. Shane has a Ph.D. in plant pathology from the University of Minnesota and twenty years of experience working at the South Western Michigan Research and Extension Center.

At this AgBio research center of Michigan State University, Dr. Shane gives advice to growers and supervises many projects involving tree fruits such as apples, pears, and peaches.  Thanks so much for visiting our campus and sharing your work!